Volume 27, Issue 9, october 7, 2004

WORLD NEWS

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Italy Resumes Controversial Deportations

Italy resumed the forced expulsions of illegal immigrants from the remote Mediterranean island of Lampedusa on Wednesday, brushing aside criticism from human rights groups.

Italian authorities had shortly stopped the controversial mass expulsions of immigrants to Libya after strong criticism from human rights groups who say the policy does not give immigrants a chance to apply for asylum.

A C-130 Hercules transport plane with 90 would-be immigrants aboard took off from Lampedusa's airport in the early afternoon, the AFP news agency reported.

A source who had seen the flight plan said the plane was bound for Libya, destination for more than 800 migrants deported from the island between Friday and Monday. The refugees were said to have been deported within 24 to 48 hours of their arrival on the small island of Lampedusa, closest to Africa.

Three other military transport planes were standing by to take a further 300 deportees back to Libya during the afternoon.

"Inhumane" move

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees as well as the Italian opposition have described the large-scale expulsions as "inhumane." Italian television broadcast graphic images of hundreds of handcuffed refugees in Lampedusa herded by policeman into waiting military planes.

"The immigrants have been treated without the slightest respect for international conventions, " Pietro Folena, parliamentarian and member of Italy's largest opposition party, Democrats of the Left (DS) told AFP. "Italy's reputation has been besmirched by an offense against human rights," Folena added.

Amnesty International and Doctors Without Borders also slammed the deportation, saying it was a "grave violation" of national and international asylum laws.

Italian stance on refugees

Laura Boldrini, UNHCR spokeswoman said that the speeded up deportation process of refugees from Lampedusa was shrouded in secrecy.

Boldrini said the Italian authorities made no effort to differentiate between asylum-seeking candidates and economic refugees. She also pointed out that the authorities didn't even possess equipment for carrying out identification measures such as fingerprints or photographs of the refugees.

Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu was quoted as saying, "the poor devils (the refugees) must know that they will get humanitarian help, but then will be sent back immediately to the place where they came from."

But, experts point out that Italy's hard-line stance against the refugees is problematic because the country still doesn't have an asylum law. That means there are no hard and fast time limits within which authorities are required to check whether refugees qualify as asylum-seekers.

Human rights group also say that though Italy has signed the Geneva Refugee Convention, Libya, which serves as a transit and starting point for hundreds of refugees from Africa, hasn't. Thus, Italy sends rejected refugees after a perfunctory check, back to a country where the basic standards of refugee rights aren't guaranteed, experts complain.

In Brussels on Tuesday, Italy's nominee to become the European Union's Justice and home affairs commissioner, Rocco Buttiglione said he was not aware of any violations. "If this information is wrong, I'll be the first one to denounce the situation," Buttiglione told the Apcom news agency.

UNHCR waiting for access to refugees

Meanwhile on Wednesday, the UNHCR complained that Italian authorities have not yet given the UN agency clearance to the around 500 refugees who are still believed to be in Lampedusa.

"We are concerned because among the people who have been sent back, there were some who would perhaps have had the right to lodge a request for political asylum," Juergen Humburg of the UNHCR told AFP.

Over the last two days alone, over a thousand would-be immigrants are said to have landed on Italy's southern coast. One of the boats carrying the immigrants capsized off the coast of Tunisia on Monday, killing at least 22 people.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will have a chance to discuss the issue with Libyan officials during a short visit on Thursday. Berlusconi is going to Libya for the opening of a gas pipeline linking the North African country to Sicily.

Rome has identified Libya as being the main launchpad for
crossings by African migrants trying to reach Europe via Italy, and the government here has been pressing Tripoli for more than a year to do more to stem the tide of would-be immigrants.

Italy has promised Libya equipment and training for land and sea patrols to help them cope, once the European Union lifts a long-standing embargo, imposed for its support of international terrorism.

Spain opposes transit camps

Even as the refugee crisis continued in Lampedusa, Spain on Tuesday said it opposed the idea of would-be immigrants to Europe being accommodated in mass transit camps in north Africa.

"Spain is not favorable to this kind of initiative," Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said Tuesday. Moratinos said the Spanish government does not believe that setting up camps in Libya and neighboring north African states such as Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria can "improve the flow" of illegal immigrants. He added that human rights and effective international cooperation on the issue were his prime concerns.

The idea of setting up transit camps in north Africa to process asylum applications outside the European Union is favored by Germany and Italy. The plan is to be discussed at a meeting of EU interior ministers later this month.

Bringing the Tropics to Germany

Long famous for its tasty cucumbers, the Spreewald region just south of Berlin is about to become well-known for rather more exotic flora: Asian investors are converting a zeppelin hangar into a tropical rainforest.

The denizens of Brand, a small community 60 kilometers outside of the German capital Berlin, probably think they've seen it all. During the Cold War their tiny village bordered one of the Soviet Union's largest foreign airbases.

Then came CargoLifter, a company hoping to build commercial heavy-lift zeppelins on the 500 hectare base after the Russians left. That project failed in 2002, but it left behind a colossal 107-meter high airship hangar subsidized by taxpayers.

Until recently, the most exciting thing to do in the area was to take a canoe ride and enjoy some of the Spreewald's popular cucumbers. But Colin Au, a Singapore-based Malaysian multi-millionaire, is aiming to change all that.

This December, Au and his partners at the Malaysian conglomerate Tanjong plc will open a €70-million ($86.8-million) tropical rainforest theme park on the former CargoLifter grounds.

"This concept could work anywhere it is cold, but Germans really love the sun," Au told DW-WORLD, as he pointed out where the hangar's unfinished concrete floor will be transformed into white sandy beaches and heated lagoons.

Thousands of plants

When complete, the 360-meter long silver structure will be refashioned into a unique venue for thousands of tropical plants and cruise ship-like entertainment. The park, known as Tropical Islands, will not only be home to orchids and palm trees; it will also have several types of "villages'' from tropical cultures, including Borneo, Congo and the Amazon.

In the depths of winter, the air temperature in the park will be a balmy 25 degrees Celsius and the water in the pools an even warmer 30 degrees. A special foil on the south side of the dome -- the world's largest freestanding construction of its kind -- will let in almost 100 percent of the sun's rays.

"If people don't use sunscreen in the summer they'll definitely get sunburn," said Tropical Islands spokeswoman Vivian Kreft.

If successful, the resort in Brand will become the flagship of a chain of similar parks around the world. But none would be built on such a mammoth scale as the dome in Germany. Au and Tanjong were able to snap it up for a measly €17.5 million --a fraction of what it cost CargoLifter -- during insolvency proceedings last year.

Enough visitors?

Despite the proclivity of Germans to flee their own inclement weather, it's still uncertain if the park can really attract over two million visitors a year as planned. Only last week, the Space Center, a comic-themed amusement park in the northern city of Bremen, closed its doors after opening earlier this year.

But Au dismissed worries that Tropical Islands could run into similar trouble. "Our concept is really much closer to a resort than an amusement park," he said. "It really should be attractive to a broad range of people."

The project certainly was attractive to the government of the depressed eastern German state of Brandenburg, which was relieved to find investors with a viable concept for the CargoLifter hall. With unemployment in Brandenburg near 20 percent, the park will create 500 desperately needed new jobs for the region.

It's the poor economy, though, that could present the biggest risk to the project, since down-on-their-luck Germans have become notoriously stingy in recent years. The amount of disposable income of many eastern Germans will be further cut next year when unpopular reforms reduce the benefits of long-term unemployed to the level of welfare payments.

Original concept is key

Harmut Mertens, an economist at Bankgesellschaft Berlin, admitted the region is going through some tough times, but he remained optimistic Tropical Islands could be a success.

"They seem to have a pretty original concept there,'' Mertens told DW-WORLD. "The problem with the Space Center in Bremen was that they put a lot of emphasis on shopping. That's not the case with the tropics park."

The locals from Brand, however, are more cautious after seeing both the Soviets and the zeppelin makers come and go.

"I'm a little skeptical,'' said Carola Seidenfeudel, who runs a snack shop not far from the dome.

She said her family sold drinks and food to CargoLifter employees for years before the company went bankrupt. Only after construction started for Tropical Island this spring did they return to their familiar corner next to Brand's tiny railway station.

"It'll be great if it works, but we've been burned before,'' she said.

Music Industry Sues European Internet Pirates

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The Reluctance to Read

The literary world has its eyes on Frankfurt this week during the world's largest book fair. But who has their eyes on books? Certainly not German children and adolescents -- they simply don't like to read. more >>

Tattoos Take the German Boondocks

Tattoo studios were once the domain of big cities. Often they were located in rather disreputable areas, but times have changed. Not only have tattoo studios gone respectable, they've even gone small town. more >>

MP3 Inventor Wants a Chat with His Stereo

Bought the latest Coldplay album and wonder what else you might like? Four German companies are competing to offer the best online music-recommendation software. In the mix: the inventor of the MP3.
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Bringing the Brains Back Home

The GAIN network, an initiative started to help lure German researchers home, is celebrating its first anniversary. A number of similar programs have sprung up, but are they working? more >>

Schröder: India Important to Germany

German industry is "impatient" to invest in India and trade between the two countries could be doubled within five years, German Chancellor Schröder said Wednesday, the first of a two-day visit to Delhi. more >>

Germany's Crippled City Centers

Germany's largest department store chain, Karstadt, has announced it might close 77 of its stores, primarily in smaller cities and towns. Some are worried that town centers that lose a major store will begin to atrophy. more >>

Developing a Euro-Arab Literature

Ahdaf Soueif is an Egyptian writer who made it big in Great Britain. As a nominee for the Booker Prize she is among the growing number of authors who are developing a so-called "Euro-Arab Literature." more >>

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